Phoenix 103, Wizards 87

It's official. The team with the worst record in the NBA resides in the nation's capital. About a half hour after the Washington Wizards lost for the 35th time this season, the Oklahoma City Thunder won for the 10th time this season. Now the Wizards (9-35) sit alone at the cellar of the league for the first time since opening the season at 0-6.

The Oklahoma City Thunder has gone 7-7 over its past 14 games to surpass the Wizards, who have proven to be consistently bad, if anything else. "Groundhog day," as Antawn Jamison described the loss to Phoenix.

Once again, the Wizards got all that they could out of Jamison and Caron Butler, but they couldn't find a third or fourth offensive weapon to keep pace with the high-scoring Suns, who had three players score at least 20 points in Shaquille O'Neal (29), Leandro Barbosa (23) and Amare Stoudemire (22). Butler led the Wizards with 28 points and Jamison had his 21st double-double with 27 points and 13 rebounds. They combined to shoot 17 for 40, accounting for almost half of the Wizards' 81 field goal attempts. The rest of the team shot 15 of 41.

The key to the game was the fourth quarter, when the Suns outscored the Wizards 28-14. Barbosa scored 10 points during a 12-6 run that opened the period and gave Phoenix an 87-79 lead. The Wizards had a scare with 4:11 in the period when Andray Blatche tried to take Shaq one-on-one along the baseline. O'Neal appeared to kick Blatche in the left leg, and as Blatche tried to dribble the ball between his legs he went sprawling to the floor, where he rolled around for several minutes, writhing in pain. He had an X-ray afterward, which Blatche said didn't reveal anything.

Blatche said afterward that he didn't know exactly what caused the injury, which the team is listing as a left knee strain. Blatche put a protective sleeve on his left knee after the game and limped out of the locker room, dragging his leg. "It's fine when I don't put pressure on it. When I start walking, it hurts," said Blatche, adding that he will attempt to practice on Tuesday. "That was the scariest thing ever. I thought it was something serious. I felt a pop. It should be fine. I should be back out at practice."

Yes! My man Tankscott is doing an admirable job. You folks have yet to acknowledge the skill and finesse it takes to do what he's doing: play your vets enough to get them decent stats, thus strengthening their trade value, yet a the same time create enough bad matchups to assure the loss. And he's doing a better job than Ari Fleisher in explaining his decisions to the entranced public. My man is going to have a nice seat waiting for him in the front office again next season, hopefully as we bring in Griffin, a guy who will have no problem defending the Crab Dribble. Thabeet could probably do it to, but I'd rather have Griffin.

I can understand the frustration of people that have season tickets (I'm glad I didn't pull the trigger on a pair last summer) - but this team needs to quietly tank. The front office already fired the coach. I don't see the point in firing Grunfeld. Does this team really have a player personnel issue? They already made the big move by signing Arenas - what's a new GM going to do, undue that contract?

They need to make the best coaching hire possible this winter/spring and work with that they've got. A draft pick, trade and maybe low level free agent could add to the team. Work has got to be under way for next season. The only thing I care about this season is Caron and Antawn not getting too down/beat up with all these losses.

"Why isn't anybody talking about Luke Harangody of Notre Dame as a potential PF draft pick? He's a junior, 6-7. 250, and he is averaging 25 ppg and 13 rpg. If you need a pf, what's wrong with that?"

You mean aside from the 6' 7" part?

First of all, I doubt Harangody comes out this year. Second, if he does, he'll make a nice late first round pick, but you don't draft a 6' 7" interior player with no hops and limited range with a lottery pick.

I'm not a Notre Dame fan, so I'm not interested really in defending Harangody. I've seen Harangody listed as 6-8 and as 6-7, but not as 6-6. Whatever his height, his stats in the Big East suggest to me that he can play in the NBA, especially his rebounding performance. How do you rebound that well if you don't have some hops? I guess if Harangody had hops he would be at 18rpg, like Wes Unseld or Charles Barkley in college.

If the Wizards can't get Blake Griffin, should they try to trade down, say with the Timberwolves?

First of all I want to thank Ivan for the nice article about McGee's playing time. Nice to see once the question of playing the kid hit the paper Tapps used the kid much like many on this site have been calling for. The Kid didn't put up a bad line agianst Shaq.

No he's not ready to play center 40 minutes a night, but he should be seeing consistant time like last night. Run him for a spurt, then work with him on the bench. For all of the critics that want to fire Ernie, take a close look, he may have found the plum of this draft.

25% chance of getting the #1 pick. If Ernie gets it, look for him to deal. I've got the feeling that OK City will pay very well for a shot at Blake Griffin. He may well be the best player in the draft but I think the Wizards can swing a deal to grab
a couple of more pcs. and maybe dump a contract or two in the process.

There's a batch of other guys that will go in the top ten that could be as good or better pick then Griffin and some might be a better fit for the Wizards.

I'd look for Amare to hit the trade market, him and Shaq don't fit on the court together. They both want the ball on the same spot on the floor so it's not working. Jamison would be a better fit for that team right now in my eyes.

Kevin Love and Micahel Beasley were both listed at 6' 10" and turned out to be about 6' 7". If Harangody is listed at 6' 7", what does that suggest?

"Whatever his height, his stats in the Big East suggest to me that he can play in the NBA,"

I don't believe anyone here has suggested he can't play in the NBA. We're suggesting that he's not worth using a lottery pick on, a viewpoint shared by most every draft rating I've seen of him.

"How do you rebound that well if you don't have some hops?"

By playing against some guys who also don't have great hops, are also not overly tall, and aren't as strong as him, which describes a lot of college "big" men. He's very good at using his big, wide body to seal off players under the basket, which is a lot easier to do against college players than it is against the bigger, stronger, more athletic frontline players in the NBA.

25% chance of getting the #1 pick. If Ernie gets it, look for him to deal. I've got the feeling that OK City will pay very well for a shot at Blake Griffin. He may well be the best player in the draft but I think the Wizards can swing a deal to grab
a couple of more pcs. and maybe dump a contract or two in the process.

Posted by: flohrtv | January 27, 2009 12:59 PM

Good points. OKC will definitely be obsessed with Griffin, if a good deal can be done, Ernie would take it. Look how well the Celtics have done by trading Jeff Green in '07 - and that was only the 5th pick. I don't think the Wizards can be as dramatic as the Celtics two years ago, but that tank job/rebuild should be a model.

If the Wizards end up with the top pick, they'd be foolish to trade it for anything short of a still young, immediate impact player. And the odds of getting one of those are slim. If Griffin is truly NBA ready in both body and game for the NBA, they need to take him because he fills a pretty desperate need for this team, both now and in the future.

In the long term, Thabeet maybe the player with the most upside. He's only been playing organized ball for 4 yrs. 7'3" 260lbs. long arms, and not bad feet. Often compared to Motombo. In a center deprived league, he could play for a long time and be a force in the slower paced playoff action.

I like Jordan Hill, guy's got a long build.Really long armed rangy player, I think his game maybe more NBA ready then Griffin. I'm not sure about Griffin's defensive ability.

Hardin looks like a protypical NBA 2. Judging by the actual production that the Wizards are getting at the 2 that's a real sore spot. And if there's a question about Arenas's health Curry can flat out shoot the rock. He's got NBA scorer's stones all over him.

If OK City is sitting anywhere from 2 to 5 a deal might be struck swapping picks and picking up some other assets to use in a another deal or a 3 way. OK City's got 3 #1's in this draft. Plus lots of cap space,they can take on a contract without giving one back to be a player in a three way deal to find an impact player.

I'd target coming away with Thabeet, Jordan, Hardin, or Curry and an extra pick. While also packaging a deadwood vet contract or two into the deal (Songaila, James, or Thomas).

Point is to convert the pick into a young player and an impact player. OK City doesn't have an impact player to give up, but they could help the Wizards accumulate the pcs. to make another deal or turn a three way.